Keeping tables in great condition

S

Smooth Operator

New member
I just bought 14 brand new valley tables for league play at my bar and was looking for info on best way to keep them in tip top playing condition. IE-Brushing vs vacumming, how often etc.. Thanks i appreciate the input and I know my players will appreciate the playing conditions
 
Smooth Operator said:
I just bought 14 brand new valley tables for league play at my bar and was looking for info on best way to keep them in tip top playing condition. IE-Brushing vs vacumming, how often etc.. Thanks i appreciate the input and I know my players will appreciate the playing conditions
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Hi Smooth Operator,

I don't have a pool table. BUT...

I recently played at DogsPlayingPool's home and was amazed at how clean and new looking his table was. It literally looks like he never plays (which is not the case). He had the table felt replaced about a year ago but it looks like its only 2 weeks old. Amazing...

Anyways, maybe he'll chime in or you could PM him.

Good luck and congratulations on your purchase.


Regards,
 
Smooth Operator
I would say minimum brushing is once or twice a week, you will find once a day becomes a chore. I also have a spare piece of the cloth from when they fitted my new cloth, t's a pretty large piece they left me, after brushing I always go over with this and it comes up a treat. Rails are a pet peave of mine, so many places even those who brush their tables forget the rails and they can get really dirty. I do mine everty time I brush the table, every other time I do the table I go round the legs too. Also don't forget the pockets once you have brushed the table take a damp cloth and go over the inside of all pockets, or the first time you take balls back out a lot of dust will transfer back to the table. Of course don't do what I saw someone doing a few months back and that was brushing the table with the balls in the pockets!
 
vacuum nightly at close . do not use a small portable such as a Royal Dirt Devil for this - use a cannister vac with a hose - the revolving heads can lead to premature cloth wear - also do not use a head with so much suction that it can lift the cloth off the slate - the plastic heads with finger-like nubs usually keep the head high enough off the felt that it reduces the suction . Electroluxes actually have a slot on the end of the hose that lets you adjust their suction . The idea is to lift the talc and chalk out of the felt , not pull the felt off the slate After vacuuming , wipe the felt and rails with a damp , not wet , cloth . Do this at closing so that any moisture has a chance to evaporate before re-opening the next day. In the morning , use a brush on the felt to re-invigorate the nap of the cloth . Do not use any type of furniture polish on the cabinets themselves - the oils & waxes will tranfer to the players hands , and then to your balls & felt .
And speaking of your balls - 14 tables & 14 sets of balls is a huge investment . You may want to add a ball cleaner/polisher to your inventory.
Yes , GeorgiaBoy , this is a chore . In fact , it's a JOB, and just part of what we go through running a room on a daily basis.
Best of luck with the new tables - hope they help to improve business .
Oh , by the way , you missed your opportunity for a blatant plug - where is this Emporium of Pool ?
 
I am no pool hall owner nor do I own a pool table of my own. However, I have experienced GREAT upkeep on tables and cloth.

Vacuuming nightly is a must. wiping down the tables edges and keeping the rails clean obviously.

The pool hall i played at, unless it was a high entry tournament, wanted people to use a "break cloth." just a small piece of cloth under the cue ball for the break shot..It saves the cloth a ton of wear.
 
AfghanBilliards said:
The pool hall i played at, unless it was a high entry tournament, wanted people to use a "break cloth." just a small piece of cloth under the cue ball for the break shot..It saves the cloth a ton of wear.
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This is a great idea ! Unfortunately , with a large number of tables , you have to be over their shoulder like "Mom" or they'll 'forget'. Or just flat ignore you !
 
I would recommend building a ball cleaner. There are a ton of threads on here and youtube talking about how to make one and what type of cleaners/polish to use.

The reason why I say this is because as a player I see a lot of tables being taken care of properly, but the balls still get real dirty for the debri that collect within the ball return tracks.

I would imagine you would have to clean the balls once every couple of months or before a big tourny. I bet a lot of the league members would actually ask to use the ball cleaner before there match, and that would save you from having an employee do it.

Just a thought, and good luck.
 
Great tips so far. I think that not allowing anything touching the table besides billiards equipment (no drinks, asses, cigarette butts, etc), and making sure not to use vaccuums with power bristles are two of the most important things to do.
 
Thanks for all the great advice. Ive heard that az billards has some of the most knowledgable players on their forums so thats why im seeking adice here. My bar is called Tailgators and since we've opened we've had some great players come through. All of whom were absolute class acts. Jason Klatt, Sarah Rousey,John Morra,Tyler Edey,Alain Martel and Chris Orme just to name a few. However now we are incorporating valley leagues so I am trying to get as much knowledge as possible. Thanks again and keep up the great advice!
 
Smooth Operator said:
I just bought 14 brand new valley tables for league play at my bar and was looking for info on best way to keep them in tip top playing condition. IE-Brushing vs vacuuming, how often etc.. Thanks i appreciate the input and I know my players will appreciate the playing conditions
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If you want to try something that's super fast and works beautifully, with no wear at all to the cloth, I use an Evercare pet hair roller. It's a 10" peel-able hair and lint roller shaped like a paint roller. I can do my 9' table in about 15 seconds and it picks up all the chalk, everything. You just peel for a new sticky surface and continue.

Vacuum cleaners work well but they're slow. Brushing grinds dust in and creates too much dust. Wiping with a damp cloth doesn't pick up everything. These things pick up everything with a few swipes - like it was made for a pool table. I orginally got these to remove cat hair (we have two pet Bengals) from a velvet couch - then I realized they were perfect for pool tables.

For commercial use, I would do it at least a couple of days a week, but it's so fast you can probably do all the tables in 10 - 15 minutes if you want to do them nightly. You can brush the underside of the rails once a week before you use the roller.


Here's the link:

http://www.petco.com/product/111974/Evercare-Mega-Cleaning-Roller-with-Extendable-Handle.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

Chris
 
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TATE said:
If you want to try something that's super fast and works beautifully, with no wear at all to the cloth, I use an Evercare pet hair roller. It's a 10" peel-able hair and lint roller shaped like a paint roller. I can do my 9' table in about 15 seconds and it picks up all the chalk, everything. You just peel for a new sticky surface and continue.

Vacuum cleaners work well but they're slow. Brushing grinds dust in and creates too much dust. Wiping with a damp cloth doesn't pick up everything. These things pick up everything with a few swipes - like it was made for a pool table. I orginally got these to remove cat hair (we have two pet Bengals) from a velvet couch - then I realized they were perfect for pool tables.

For commercial use, I would do it at least a couple of days a week, but it's so fast you can probably do all the tables in 10 - 15 minutes if you want to do them nightly. You can brush the underside of the rails once a week before you use the roller.


Here's the link:

http://www.petco.com/product/111974/Evercare-Mega-Cleaning-Roller-with-Extendable-Handle.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

Chris
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That is a great idea Chris. I'm trying it!
Monte
 
It's tough to keep tables in a commercial environment to the level of a private table. For one thing, my table is always covered when not in use.

What I do is brush my table at the end of every session and wipe down and clean the balls when I put them away. The brushing is light, not with a lot of force. I'm just trying to whisk the chalk off the cloth, not drive the dirt into and through the cloth. About every two weeks I vacuum the table. I use a 2hp wet vac with a wide nozzle attachment with passive brushes (no powered brushes!). This keeps the attachment off the table just enough to prevent too much suction that would loosen the cloth. You don't need a lot of suction since you are only trying to get up loose dirt, dust, and chalk. Any more power than that is counter-productive. After vacuuming, I wipe down the cloth with a wrung-out (just damp) microfiber towel and then brush down the grain towards the foot rail after it dries. Obviously in a commercial setting vacuuming should be done more frequently since the tables get more play and they are rarely if ever covered.

For prevention, probably the most wear to the bed cloth comes from the break and racking.

I always use a break cloth. More and more pool halls are going to this. They use them at Hard Times so I think you should be able to educate your customers to use them. You can talk to the managers of your leagues and explain to them this is to help maintain the equipment so their players have the best possible conditions. After all, you are probably providing them with a sweet deal to play in your room so the least they can do is help you to avoid unnecessary wear.

As far as racking goes, the most wear comes from filling the rack at the foot rail and then sliding them up and back to the foot spot. I always place the triangle on the foot spot and then fill the rack - this prevents all the wear caused by sliding the rack into position. To the extent you can teach your customers this method, you will be saving your cloth. You may want to provide Magic Racks for your customers, at least for 9 Ball leagues. The Magic Rack is not as good for full rack games, for the obvious reasons. You could also provide racks with rack cloths to minimize this wear but I've never seen this in a commercial setting and it may be a bit too much to expect your customers to learn and use a rack cloth.

The Simonis Z-1 I've heard works very well also and can be used instead of brushing. I would still vacuum occasionally. The use of a pet hair roller is an interesting one that has been suggested from time to time. Tate knows his stuff, but I am a little concerned about anything that may transfer sticky residue to the cloth over time. That kind of stuff, once embedded in the cloth, will never come out. If it doesn't do this, it certainly seems this may be an efficient way to clean 14 tables in a commercial setting quickly. But I notice that on the Simonis website in their instructions on cloth care and upkeep, they make no mention of using a pet hair roller. Again, my concern is transfer of residue over time with continued use.

One other thing. More rooms are getting away from providing hand chalk cones.

Hope this helps.
 
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IMHO using a break cloth is just like a magic rack, its just not playing pool.

Putting down a piece of cloth to break off of in order to slow down the inevitable cost of replacing the cloth is not pool. Granted this is IMHO, I played on a table with a break cloth and that table had more balls jump the table and generally was an inconvenience to keep putting it down and picking it up, putting it down, If you are a decent player playing for any length of time, you will learn to not like the break cloth.
 
u12armresl said:
IMHO using a break cloth is just like a magic rack, its just not playing pool.

Putting down a piece of cloth to break off of in order to slow down the inevitable cost of replacing the cloth is not pool. Granted this is IMHO, I played on a table with a break cloth and that table had more balls jump the table and generally was an inconvenience to keep putting it down and picking it up, putting it down, If you are a decent player playing for any length of time, you will learn to not like the break cloth.
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I have to disagree. If a break cloth is good enough for guys like Parica, Santos, Corey Harper, etc. and all the other top players out of Hard Times, it's good enough for me.

I don't think there is anything wrong, unprofessional, or unpool-like to respect the equipment. :wink:
 
Here in at my pool hall in Japan, they brush the tables after every use and vacuum every morning before opening. The cloth looks and plays very fast and straight despite 1 and a half years of heavy use. They also polish the balls after every use. The balls look brand new, but they have never replaced them (besides the cueballs) since they opened 10 years ago.
 
What about other variables such as humidity and temperature?

I would assume a dry, somewhat cooler environment would be beneficial to table longevity.
 
I appreciate the great advice. Thanks and I will definetly be trying it. Perhaps I can keep everyone posted as to how its working seeing as they are brand new and will be getting alot of use. I have leagues Mon-Friday and tourneys on the weekends.
 
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